::0cp.26/41/T - Chomp

Standing along the corridor one floor above and looking down over the railing at the two men conferring below, Chomp remained unnoticed. It was a risk to rush down the flight of metal stairs to try to reach the pair, one of whom was the dog thief still holding on to his leashed pack, the other likely being the lookout or person in charge of this cluster of containers. They would most likely hear or spot him coming down way before he could close in on them.

There was a chance to narrow the distance first if he were to creep down the stairs to put himself at range. This could still mean being spotted, but at least Chomp would reach striking distance.

Chomp tries to get as close as possible before they notice him.

"Wha-?" Chomp was quick, Vinnie was quicker, but it was Chomp who wasn't nearly quiet enough as he descended the strairs to avoid sounding off his footfall as he tried to lunge for the custodian, who spun around and instinctively flung a blow his way while the dog thief pivoted with their pack.

"Chomp?" Chomp recognised a fellow dog handler, a young woman, ironically named Katt, whom he knew to be working for boss Vislen. For everyone knew everyone else in the Ark, to some degree. There were about two hundred of the People, and they had inhabited the derelict ship for close to two decades, maybe more, as far as anyone could remember. The other person was Kruger, a tough with too-wide cheekbones and sporting what Chomp had always thought were razor-sharp ears. Did Chomp just stumble into one of boss Vislen's operations? And were Katt and Kruger compelled to have to keep things quiet by any means, now that Chomp had intruded?

"Where are you taking them!" Chomp screams once his presence has been discovered. He tries to bite into his neck before he even has time to answer.

Maybe it was the residual scent of rotting cadavers in the room that triggered him, but Chomp's mutation surged in his adrenalin and he chomped at Kruger without hesitation!

"Yargh!" Kruger yelled as Chomp tore at him, but grunts were hardened survivors, much like the mutated roaches out in the Zone, stubbornly refusing to cave in in the face of Chomp's unmitigated aggression. The wiry custodian pushed back, arms swinging to rain punches at Chomp, while Katt still stood by. She seemed undecided about whether she wanted to unleash the mutts against Chomp. Perhaps she valued them, perhaps she considered Vinnie equally valuable.

Chomp is too angry to wonder if this assault is smart or not. He screams at Kruger. "Don't take dogs!"

He claws and punches at his face.

"What the hell are you trying to do, Chomp?" Katt saw that something had possessed Chomp to behave unreasoningly, and while she did not look like she was prepared to assault Chomp in return, and since Chomp did not respond to her yelling at him to stop, she tried to back Kruger up with her dogs. Chomp was too enraged to notice that the small pack she had ostensibly gathered only an hour ago or so seemed to respond well to her commands!

The two men exchanged blows for a bit more, neither gaining the upper hand, but both visibly becoming more winded as the fight wore on. Katt's dogs were growling aggressively, but she held on to them tightly, not letting them join the fray to add to the chaos, although it appeared she would change her mind if it swung one way or another.

"I know you are taking the dogs!" Chomp says with heavy panting. He is barely standing, but still tries to push Kruger. "They are disappearing. Are you feeding on them?!"

He lunges one time, but it is obviously the fight is mostly out of him.

"Haven't you realised we're out of grub? Would you rather eat the People instead?" It was a horrific thought, but strangely not as alien to Chomp as Katt made it out to be, not that Katt knew how Chomp's mutation worked. With Kruger slowing down nearly as much as Chomp was, Katt sought to convincingly turn Chomp to her point of view but realised the only way to get through to Chomp might just be to knock some sense into his thick skull. And with Chomp winded, the last punch Kruger swung connected much more solidly than he expected as he slid to the ground with a very protective Vinnie doing its best to stand in the way to prevent anyone from approaching his fallen form.

Chomp is on the verge of tears as Katt butts in. Chomp turns to Katt to speak his mind when he's sucker punched by Kruger. Chomp falls to the ground, he tries to get up, but double vision makes it hard. "They deserve better," is all he is able to mutter before everything goes dark.

Chomp regained consciousness to find himself encased in a metal room, much like a locker or a store room. The air was cold, but not bitterly so, although Chomp had the impression that if this were meant to have been a store room, it ought to be nearer to a chiller temperature. If he had to guess, this container was one of those he saw when he stood at the vantage point of the walkway above.

The room was nearly pitch black, except for a small pilot light above the only door, presumably to illuminate where the exit was. But it was the darkness that bothered them, it wasn't the stench of badly preserved, perhaps near-decomposing flesh that assaulted his senses when he was more aware of his surroundings, and he had no idea how long it had been that he was lying in here.

Chomp wakes up with his head ringing. Touching out with his hands in the darkness, he finds a plate of something food like. He considers not eating, not knowing if it could be dogs or human. The last don't bother him as much as the first strangely enough. Hunger is too bad though, so he greedily eats it, slowly regaining his strength.

Once he's up to it, he stands up and heads to the door and starts banging on it.

The rotten food was unaffecting to Chomp's constitution, and despite him wolfing down a generous amount of mystery meat he did not feel ill. On the contrary he felt more fortified than even earlier.

It took a long while before he finally heard someone on the other side of the door fiddle with the locking mechanism. The door swung open slowly, the dingy light of the room outside temporarily blinding him for having been in pitch darkness for so long. Three figures stood there, frontmost was Kruger, now armed with a wicked looking blade, and very surprised at Chomp's regained vigor. Slightly further behind were two other men, a spry-looking figure in a tight jacket, and another wearing a some sort of hockey mask to cover his face. Katt was nowhere to be seen.

"No funny business, Chomp, otherwise you're going to get it good this time." Kruger stuck the pointy end of his blade out to signal that he meant business.

"Poking your nose where you don't belong," the figure in the mask tut-tutted, "You're asking to be fed to the dogs. A pity, you could be useful..." Was the man giving him a way out of this predicament?

Chomp shields his eyes at the sudden light. When he finally have his sight back, he gives Kruger an angry glare, but remains silent.

"I figure you were the ones poking your noses with the dogs first," he says with a shrug. But seeing the blade in his hand, he knows he'll have to get his shot later. Calmly he says "But I'll behave."

"Turn him into food, let me -" Kruger snarled and made a throat-slitting motion, none too happy with the broken nose Chomp now noticed that he had given him, even though Kruger had had the upper hand in the fight but only because Katt had helped. As the last remnant of humanity, it was forbidden to end anyone's life in the Ark, that was foremost amongst the laws laid down by the Elder. But here Chomp was, having discovered a terrible secret.

"The dogs are valuable, for many reasons," replied the person in the mask, "more so than some of the People." The man stepped towards Chomp, "Question is, Chomp, are you more valuable than a dog?" With a community of two hundred or so People, it was the case that everyone pretty much knew everyone. This person who spoke with such authority had to be one of the bosses, and Chomp could count with two hands who they were, so it was a tad strange for him to keep up the facade.

The bodyguard behind whispered to Kruger sneeringly, "Thought you said you roughed him up good, he doesn't look beat up to me, heh."